Antonio Meccariello Shoes

[Noblekostas]

@Noblekostas - one question: how do you compare the creasing of the leather of Paolo Scafora vs Antonio’s 3-year-old pair?

By saying leather creasing, I mean how fine / dense / tight the creases are.

I have a bad leather creasing example from Bontoni:

Difficult to say yet as I have just worn mine in the house. I just conditioned my AM to see how they "recover". I will need to wait for a few wears to see how it holds up! Here's the PS on my feet.

 

[clee1982]

Some shots of the Elios boot (because @clee1982 pressured me to post them here!!)

View attachment 1569075 View attachment 1569076 View attachment 1569077 View attachment 1569078

Looks great!

 

[clee1982]

I showed Antonio the video, and he made some comments that were very helpful and I would like to share.

First of all, he mentioned that his shoes are much better now than when this model was released 3 years ago. He has constantly worked on construction, finishing, shape, overall. His aim is to improve every day. I admire that about him.

My shoes are made in some vintage leather, baby box calf 16 ft. Where 16 ft is the total size of the calf. His standard production these days is 14/16/18 ft triple box calf. Other makers use 24/28 ft size, which I assume is the total size of the hide and shows he tries to use the best pieces only.

About the fit, he said that the slight slip at the heel is not uncommon for fiddleback waists which start more rigid and that will disappear after breaking in them for a while. The V at the laces should not be totally closed in the beginning, and when they break in you can adjust them more and give better grip to the heel. He says it should go away in 4-5 wears.

So he recommended me not to use tongue pads for the beginning, which I might follow.

I hope this helps someone.

Speaking improvement I was polishing my AM today (1st time in 3 years!) comparing to the AM I got in 2016, my mid 2020 one seems to have better waist transition (both on chisel 2, though one in F one in E and of course the 2016 one had been worn forever so it’s more “settled in”).

 

[clee1982]

and here are some pictures (can't get them right, still somewhat distorted though, especially you move to the left), the right 4 are AMs

and I guess comparing all the various lazyman

and because I rotated it left 4 are AM

then reminder oxford/lazyman...

p.s. didn't get to shine the silvano sassetti in the end and hasn't gotten the time to shine the boots/loafer so not pictured

 

[Encore]

You are pretty "Lazy"

 

[clee1982]

I'm, and I'm still looking to maybe getting one more lazyman (the plain toe version, like the one from SB or Jim Jum)...

 

[soloioeilmare]

Work of art. A real genius. Always admired his work.

 

[ajay199127]

And the long wait is over, just received email from Antonio that shoes are in the mail tomorrow. He provided some additional Appreciation...

I recently Acquired this in sienna, it's a work of art. I think I made a mistake by going for a thicker vibram sole instead of the Crespino's that he offers. Angela was so patient and friendly, just the customer service made me want to purchase another pair.

 

[JustPullHarder]

I recently Acquired this in sienna, it's a work of art. I think I made a mistake by going for a thicker vibram sole instead of the Crespino's that he offers. Angela was so patient and friendly, just the customer service made me want to purchase another pair.

Have the same shoe in the same makeup but with toe plates and bare leather. Brilliant loafer.

 

[Rimaarts]

Have the same shoe in the same makeup but with toe plates and bare leather. Brilliant loafer.

I think armiticos (captoe) is same leather just different colour? got mine yesterday and to be honest I'm not sure if I'd get another one in same leather... leather seemed to... 'lighten up' a little bit just due to stretch of inserting shoe tree! (yes I did twist the tree before someone asks) am I wrong to think the leather will be a magnet for scuffs?

but the shoes were truly magnificent! I never thought to see something that 'looks' better than yeossal with slanted heel, tiny waist and spade sole, but seeing that taxes aside Antonio rtw and yeossal rtw is not that far apart, somehow I can't see myself getting another yeossal shoe!

p.s. had to exchange mecariellos... turns out I need to size up full size from trickers/loake and half size from meermin.. thankfully he allowed me to ship with DPD! DHL would charge me almost 80£ while DPD charged just a tad below 20£

 

[ajay199127]

I think armiticos (captoe) is same leather just different colour? got mine yesterday and to be honest I'm not sure if I'd get another one in same leather... leather seemed to... 'lighten up' a little bit just due to stretch of inserting shoe tree! (yes I did twist the tree before someone asks) am I wrong to think the leather will be a magnet for scuffs?

but the shoes were truly magnificent! I never thought to see something that 'looks' better than yeossal with slanted heel, tiny waist and spade sole, but seeing that taxes aside Antonio rtw and yeossal rtw is not that far apart, somehow I can't see myself getting another yeossal shoe!

p.s. had to exchange mecariellos... turns out I need to size up full size from trickers/loake and half size from meermin.. thankfully he allowed me to ship with DPD! DHL would charge me almost 80£ while DPD charged just a tad below 20£

Well, it took a lot of wears personally for me to break in and you may be surprised to hear that the leather actually is pretty scuff proof.

But, what I like the most is the lack of maintenance required. All you'd need is a 5 min shine with a tad bit of wax and some brushing because I personally feel a mirror shine on a rugged leather pattern would look off.

 

[ajay199127]

I showed Antonio the video, and he made some comments that were very helpful and I would like to share.

First of all, he mentioned that his shoes are much better now than when this model was released 3 years ago. He has constantly worked on construction, finishing, shape, overall. His aim is to improve every day. I admire that about him.

My shoes are made in some vintage leather, baby box calf 16 ft. Where 16 ft is the total size of the calf. His standard production these days is 14/16/18 ft triple box calf. Other makers use 24/28 ft size, which I assume is the total size of the hide and shows he tries to use the best pieces only.

About the fit, he said that the slight slip at the heel is not uncommon for fiddleback waists which start more rigid and that will disappear after breaking in them for a while. The V at the laces should not be totally closed in the beginning, and when they break in you can adjust them more and give better grip to the heel. He says it should go away in 4-5 wears.

So he recommended me not to use tongue pads for the beginning, which I might follow.

I hope this helps someone.

I have often seen the customers stating that a +/- 0.25 sizing would make the shoes fit like a glove including yourself. So, why wouldn't anyone opt for their TTS with F width?

I own the Birch soft square AM acquired via @DonRaphael UK8 (which is specific last for SABOT with a higher instep based on what I was told by Angela) and then a Valerius uk8 in the soft square which fits me much better than the former.

I am eyeing a chisel1 or chisel2 and based on what I have seen so far, it's much more accommodating in the toe box with the same instep as a soft square.

So, should I go for a width F TTS Chisel or are there any members who've received shoes from Meccariello that are in 0.25 sizes as well?

Your thoughts, please.

 

[Rimaarts]

Well, it took a lot of wears personally for me to break in and you may be surprised to hear that the leather actually is pretty scuff proof.

But, what I like the most is the lack of maintenance required. All you'd need is a 5 min shine with a tad bit of wax and some brushing because I personally feel a mirror shine on a rugged leather pattern would look off.

as long as my feet doesn't bleed, I'm ok with break in discomfort... I'm pretty pain-proof!

well I was just surprised about leather lightening just from inserting shoe tree, so I figured must be one of those 'patina after 3 wears' leathers! if I'm wrong on that, penny loafer looks pretty tempting!

 

[clee1982]

I have often seen the customers stating that a +/- 0.25 sizing would make the shoes fit like a glove including yourself. So, why wouldn't anyone opt for their TTS with F width?

I own the Birch soft square AM acquired via @DonRaphael UK8 (which is specific last for SABOT with a higher instep based on what I was told by Angela) and then a Valerius uk8 in the soft square which fits me much better than the former.

I am eyeing a chisel1 or chisel2 and based on what I have seen so far, it's much more accommodating in the toe box with the same instep as a soft square.

So, should I go for a width F TTS Chisel or are there any members who've received shoes from Meccariello that are in 0.25 sizes as well?

Your thoughts, please.

what’s your fit issue again, chisel 2 is a bit longer than soft square (hence for me more room in toebox), so if soft square fits, you could just take same size for chisel 2 (or you want to size down to UK 7.5 for chisel 2 and worry it might be too tight? This looking for size down but wider fit?)

 

[shoes83]

I have often seen the customers stating that a +/- 0.25 sizing would make the shoes fit like a glove including yourself. So, why wouldn't anyone opt for their TTS with F width?

I own the Birch soft square AM acquired via @DonRaphael UK8 (which is specific last for SABOT with a higher instep based on what I was told by Angela) and then a Valerius uk8 in the soft square which fits me much better than the former.

I am eyeing a chisel1 or chisel2 and based on what I have seen so far, it's much more accommodating in the toe box with the same instep as a soft square.

So, should I go for a width F TTS Chisel or are there any members who've received shoes from Meccariello that are in 0.25 sizes as well?

Your thoughts, please.

My recommendation is to write to Angela. Provide her the measurements A, B, C that they list on the website for your sizing reference and see what she thinks. I've done it a couple of times and it's been super helpful.